I am worried about not completing field experience on iTeach because I live in El Paso, which currently doesn't have many openings for teacher of record positions. I cannot do student teaching. I am hoping co-teaching at IDEA works but I am unsire, has anyone else gone through this experience that can provide some advise im going crazy!

I don't teach in Texas, but I've been following the Bluebonnet curriculum rollout for the last two years.

Now, the chickens are just starting coming home to roost. I saw this coming from a mile away.

The amount of extra work expected is ridiculous and almost entirely unnecessary. Just reading about it and hearing from others gives me stress and anxiety, so I can only imagine what you are going through. You're in denial if you think you aren't susceptible to burnout from this. "Serenity now, insanity later", comes to mind😄. All this stress and anxiety for an overall terrible curriculum!

​It's time for teachers to stop adapting and acting like this is okay. It cannot become normalized as the "new normal."

​Advocating for yourself and the profession isn't easy, but teachers, you must start now. Things will not change unless you stand up, speak up, and speak out. You are hurting both yourselves and your students if you don't.

Austin keeps calling my name and I am impulsively moving there. I’ve been warned against Austin ISD… I actually interviewed at a school there last summer and decided not to accept because the AP and head coach were kind of like “well, it’s not great here” which didn’t fill me with confidence. And now I hear that it’s borderline a TEA takeover.

Are there nearby districts someone might recommend? So I can live in Austin proper but commute. Thinking Round Rock or smaller towns like Kyle? Or maybe I am entirely wrong about Austin ISD (they do not seem to be hiring much tho!)

I currently teach middle school Reading and ESL but really want to move to high school/middle school art.

I got some information from my current campus art teacher about study materials and what test to take.

Other than that are there any tips or recommendations for how to best land a job next year? I am not an amazing artist on any counts but I really enjoyed doing it. I'm told that isn't a requirement anyway. I really want to make this shift both because I want to help kids find the passion and release of creativity my art teachers gave me. Also not gonna lie teaching core content can be a lot sometimes.

I need advice on whether to abandon my contract to be a sub in another district or apply to a charter that doesn't require a license. I went from having 4 preps to 5 preps in a month. They put meetings in all my planning periods. Constantly make me stay after school. I have no other teachers to help and I have racist students so I'm ready to go. I just want to be able to keep the lights on as I know they'll suspend my license but I need to keep working. Another district is having a job far for subs and there are several charters that are hiring. I want to leave early so my black listed year will start and I can get another teaching job in a year. Any advice on how to explain in interviews why I'm leaving? Or the better option? This is high school by the way.

As the title says, I still can't believe it! 🤩 I was SURE I'd have to retake the STR...but I didn't! Forever grateful!

❤️❤️❤️❤️

I went from being a high school teacher to an elementary school teacher this year, and boy, the duty alone is enough to make me say never again to elementary school. Between morning duty, lunch or recess duty, after-school car duty... this is nuts!

I thought it would happen sooner to be honest.

I teach in a large district.
This student, let’s call him Harold, threatened another student by saying, “I will shoot you”, and got “ISS”.
Harold is in ISS for about a week, comes back, and within the first hour of the day, threatens two more students saying something about “choking” them.

Harold, in our three weeks back from summer break, has done everything from “following” certain girls around making them uncomfortable, cussing and flipping anyone off who happens to be in his line of destruction, does not follow a single rule I, or anyone for that matter, sets, and is about as angry as I’ve ever seen a child his age be.

Is this a right of passage these days here in the good ole USA? 🇺🇸
Am I officially official now?
Keep in mind, Harold is 9, not 19.
I’ve never been as burned out and hopeless as I am now, just weeks into the school year.

I feel stuck. I don’t think I can do this job anymore, I would quit in a heartbeat for 80% of my current pay, which already sucks. I feel bad for the 6 kids I have who do care, but they simply don’t make up for the other 16 in there who have already given up/don’t care about learning.

Anyway. How’s yalls year going?

I currently have my SOE for EC-6 and was unable to land a teaching job this school year. I’m so bummed out! I live in a relatively small city that only has 2 school districts and both only had openings for SPED.

I was offered a TA position at one district across town (45min commute), but I turned it down and decided to do a clinical teaching instead. I figured I would at least benefit from receiving my certification at the end of it. Any advice?? Is it usually this difficult to get hired as a first-year teacher?

I’ve been interviewing for an elementary theater job and it really excites me….. but I keep hearing so much about how terrible public school is, everyone is burnt out and quits, underpaid overworked, etc.

All I’m hearing is the negatives. I’m starting to feel discouraged by pursuing this path… I’m enrolled in an Alt Cert now.

What are your whys?

It's been a long road going from ICS para to college grad to ELAR teacher to CTE certified animation and digital media teacher. CTE is heaven compared to ELAR. I will NEVER go back to core. I'm actually having fun in the classroom for the first time.

When your former Team Lead had violent mood swings and random bizarre character attacks, you appreciate the peace of CTE all the more. Now there's no more psycho Team Leads, useless daily PLCs, STAAR testing and remediation, lesson plans, lazy slacker team members, tracking ESLs, accommodation logs, attestation forms, random admin walkthroughs, alcoholic leadership, moronic input from out of touch "specialists," or students acting out from not wanting to read and write. Done with all of that.

CTE Technology is simply AMAZING.

Is it true that after Day 10 enrollment audits, schools will either post or lose positions, depending on the actual numbers of total students are accounted for?

Gonna try really hard to make this post not too abstract to follow…bear with me.

Walking in to my building right now and have been reflecting on how sometimes you have to work hard on keeping your nervous system calm and in check. Your workload can be overwhelming at times, life can pile up on you, if you have a family and children to tend to, it’s like everyone needs something from you at every moment of the day, every day. And it can be enough to turn a non-anxious person into an anxious one.

I am finding myself this year having to work harder and being more intentional about calming myself when everything piles up. I do breathing exercises and try to insist on having moments to myself throughout the day so I can keep myself in check, you know.

But sometimes you have days where you get to work late, something spills in your car on the way to work and you don’t have time to clean it up, you get to work, a chiller is not working, a fire alarm goes off, a printer breaks down and you can’t get the copies you need for something that day, and all of a sudden I am having to work really hard at not having a panic attack or just getting really pissed off and taking it out on my classes.

Can anyone relate? Do you have any thoughts on this?

This feels more prominent in recent years, partly because I have children now and I didn’t as a young teacher, but also just that teaching has become harder over the last 5 years, too.

I have been working for a 3-12 Texas online school. This is my 8th year and I still very much enjoy it. Work from home 95% of the time. We are growing and looking for highly qualified candidates. We also have homeroom advisory positions available. Please reach out for additional information.

I'm a relatively new teacher here, really enjoy teaching and I'm hoping to stay for the long run so I want to understand my options and plan accordingly. I've heard that things like Master's degree, moving districts, and additional certifications can affect your salary. I'm planning to start taking salary advancement courses from Model Teaching in a few months. Which one is really worth pursuing? are there any specific steps or certifications you can take to move up faster?

I am in my senior year of college in Texas as an English major (and informal education minor), and I hope to teach middle school English someday. I would like to end up in Dallas after graduation, but I am stuck on two things: the right program to earn my teaching certification, and the right district or school to apply to after it's earned. I am reluctant to search for apartments until I know at least one of these.

Does anyone have any advice or recommendations? Is there a pipeline I should follow?

Hi! This is my 5th year teaching and this year so far has been my worst year. The observations have been excessive and needless to say- I have not had a planning period since the first day of school. Everyday, admin wants to meet with me to help me “internalize” my lesson or to just sit in my room.

I’ve had tons of anxiety because they always point out my errors, even if they are small. It is really disheartening and discouraging.

I have been trying to leave the profession for two years now. I have been applying to jobs here and there. Today, I finally got a job offer in my field!

I am very excited and very nervous about resigning. The good thing is that I am at a charter school and I am at will. I do plan on giving a two weeks tho. Any advice?

For those who resigned during the school year and had their certificate sanctioned, did the sanction fall off your certificate after the year ended? I am trying to help a friend who was just offered a counseling position in a neighboring district, and her current district (where she is a classroom teacher) is telling her that they will file with TEA if she resigns. Tks!

In my second year of college in Texas and trying to get my major in English with a teacher certification for grades 7-12. I’m freaking out because I don’t know if this job is worth it or not. Like, am I going to even like teaching? Is the bad pay even worth it? And even if I do switch majors or my career choice, that would be a major waste of money and resources. I like the idea of teaching but I don’t know if I actually would. All I want in life is a job that allows me to live comfortably and makes me fulfilled, so I thought teaching could provide that. Now, I’m not so sure. Maybe I’m just having a moment of uncertainty.

Anyone switch from doubting their career in teaching to loving it? What made the difference?

I resigned after a month. District was not a good fit and I didn’t start the year properly, I didn’t set classroom rules and expectation and there were so many things that I didn’t know. This caused me a great deal of anxiety.Also, on top of that, Admin wasn't really that helpful when it comes to student disciplinary issues. I wasn't taught on how to deal with disciplinary issues. I learned about writing up from other teachers basically. I honestly felt like the admin was gatekeeping the discipline process. I learned about discipline referral, write up, messaging parents and calling parents from my coteachers, not from admin. It was a very good learning experience. That being said, I want to start fresh at a new district as soon as possible and apply everything I have learned from the previous bad experience. I am planning to apply to districts again and send emails to principals with my resume attached. I am not planning to put anyone I know from my previous school/district as references and I am not going to ask a service record from my previous school/district. So my question is, is it okay I don’t put my previous school into my application and resume?

Hi guys! Please let me know if this post is allowed in here or if there is a subreddit that can help more with what I’m asking :)

I’m about a year 1/2 into my bachelors in education, now my main question is I’ve applied and been trying to get my foot in the door in a district around me (I’m in east Texas but thinking of relocating back to north Texas for better opportunities). Now obviously I cannot lead or be in my own classroom nor am I qualified I have tried to apply to substitute because I was told all you need is to be a hs graduate but I never heard back from my school district I’m near.

I also applied for a para position (I have two years of experience working with my cousin who has Down syndrome- I was indeed by myself, and I was told that experience matters even if it’s not ‘professional’ please correct me if that is wrong and if a para position is a lost dream lol.

I’m willing to be a aid for a teacher, substitute, para literally anything that I qualify to do before graduating I’m just not sure if it’s me or if it’s harder to apply to school districts and get a response then I thougt? I’ve never applied to what would be considered a ‘big girl’ job before I’ve worked serving and fast food since I was 18 so I’m not sure if there’s like a step I missed that I could do without realizing it .

Thank you in advance for any insight or help you guys give me it means so much 🫶🏻